X.org 7.3 Released

A few days later than anticipated, the X.org developer team has now released version 7.3 of the Unix graphics system.

The new release includes version 1.4 of the X server which uses what is known as RandR (Resize and Rotate) technology to plug in input and output devices at runtime, with some help from the HAL and D-Bus systems. The new version additionally offers enhanced support for touchscreens and graphics tablets.

Further enhancements include improved cooperation with Sun's Solaris diagnostics software DTrace, the EXA framework, and the KDrive X Server variant for systems that are low on memory resources. The new Xbacklight application gives users the ability to set the brightness on laptop displays. There are also a couple of new drivers: Xf86-video-glide and Xf86-video-vermilion.

The current release was delayed on account of various vulnerabilities. X.org 7.3 was originally scheduled for release August 29. According to the release notes some bugs still remain unresolved, but the developers will be tackling them in the next couple of weeks. Vulnerabilities that the developers have already remedied include various integer overflows in the Xserver, LibX11 and LibXfont modules.

AMD has put its money where its mouth is, and published the first free Linux drivers for its ATI R500 and R600 graphics cards in collaboration with Novell. After a lengthy break, Nvidia has also released a new version of its proprietary graphics driver.

The X.org project has some discussion ahead of it, instigated by developer Peter Hutterer's call for an ordered release strategy. The current rather unpredictable release schedule makes the work and test process harder, according to Hutterer.